Meet the Author

Robert D. Ballard

Ever since he started exploring tidal pools and marine life as a child, Robert Ballard has been fascinated with the ocean. He grew up in San Diego, California, which is bordered by the Pacific Ocean. San Diego is also a major U.S. Navy base. "To me, going to sea was the most natural thing in the world," notes Ballard.

Ballard has been going to sea for more than 30 years now. The Titanic is just one of the historically important ships he has discovered. He also found the Lusitania, the Yorktown, the Bismarck, and the Andrea Doria. Ballard recently started the Institute for Exploration, which will train others in the field of deep-water archaeology (the study of evidence from past human life and culture). "There is more history preserved in the deep sea than in all the museums of the world combined," says Ballard.

When he was a kid, Robert Ballard's favorite books were adventure stories such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. That book's hero, Captain Nemo, built his own submarine and explored beneath the sea, just as Ballard does now.